Association of Former Intelligence Officers From AFIO's The Intelligencer 7700 Leesburg Pike, Suite 324 Falls Church, Virginia 22043 Journal of U.S. Intelligence Studies Web: www.afio.com * E-mail: [email protected] Volume 25 • Number 3 • Winter-Spring 2020 $15 single copy price as Sarah notes in her book, For All the in : Espionage, Empire and the Secret Formula for the World’s When Intelligence Made a Difference Favorite Drink, Fortune was no ordinary character. Rose ­— 19th Century — describes him as a “Scottish gardener, botanist, plant hunter – and industrial spy.”3 In any case, this Victorian gentleman was unques- tionably a man of botany. He was born in Kelloe, Ber- wickshire, Scotland and started his work in botany at The British Tea Heist the Botanical Industrial Intelligence, Circa 1847 Garden before moving to the Royal Horticul- tural Society’s garden in by Joel Wickwire Chiswick.4 This was an exciting time for botany he world of intellectual property law today is in Great Britain, in the rife with lawsuits. Apple alone seems to have years preceding Fortune’s been in a whirlwind of cases involving intellec- T travels, David Douglas, tual property, both foreign and domestic, since its a fellow member of the inception. In fact, the movie “Pirates of Silicon Valley” Royal Botanist Society, tells the story of how Bill Gates infiltrated Apple Com- Traditional Dress made three trips to the puters, learned of their innovative operating system, New World, where he left and then rebranded it as Windows under Microsoft. his namesake upon an evergreen tree of the Pacific An equally audacious effort to infiltrate an industry Northwest, the Douglas Fir. However, it was For- is documented by Robert Fortune in his 1847 book tune who may be singlehandedly responsible for the called Three Years’ Wanderings in The Northern Provinces commercial success of tea in the western world and of China. However, unlike Apple Computers, Fortune for jumpstarting the Assam industry in India via its was literally attacked by pirates. British colonists. Fortune employed quite unconventional meth- ods, not only for diverting suspicions associated with being a foreigner in China, but also in collecting seeds and leaves of plants to be sent abroad. In this adventure, his “chairmen” were his allies, a source of frustration, but also a vulnerability. Fortune recalls a chairman that refused to continue on for the duration of the trip. This led to a brawl between the chairmen in a crowded square. Fortune recounts the event in the following passage: “The situation in which I was now China Sea Port With “Junk Ships” placed was rather critical, and far from an enviable Fortune’s first book, and his follow-up text,A one. Had it been known that a foreigner was in the Journey to the Tea Countries of China, tells his story of very heart of the city of Hang-chow-foo, a mob would traveling deep to the inner parts of China for the pur- have soon collected, and the consequences might have pose of learning about methods of tea cultivation and been serious.”5 obtaining specimens to be returned to Great Britain Fortune was not one to avoid danger in his efforts and her colonies. To avoid detection, Fortune often to obtain what he thought would be a prize specimen. disguised himself in traditional Chinese dress1 and At one point, he spied an exceptional specimen of rode in a “sedan-chair” carried by “chair-bearers” over a funereal cypress off in the distance. As his party great distances.2 This all sounds a very elaborate, but neared, they noticed it was located within a garden

1. Robert Fortune, A Journal to the Tea Countries of China Including Sung-Lo and the Bohea Hills with a Short Notice of the East India 3. Rose, Sarah, For All the Tea in China: Espionage, Empire and Secret Company’s Tea Plantations in the Himalaya Mountains, (: John Formula for the World’s Favorite Drink. About the Book. https://www​ Murray, 1852), p. 22. https://archive.org/details​/ajourneytoteaco00unkn- .goodreads.com/book/show/3081255-for-all-the-tea-in-china. goog/page/n14/mode/2up. 4. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-Fortune. 2. Fortune, p. 38-39. 5. Fortune, p. 38

Winter-Spring 2020 Intelligencer: Journal of U.S. Intelligence Studies Page 51 protected by high walls. The only way to reach the As mentioned at the fore of this article, Fortune tree was to enter through a “a little cottage” which he was literally attacked by pirates. After finishing noted rather confidently, that he and his companion “botanical research” in Foo-chow-foo Fortune had did “with all the coolness of Chinamen.”6 It was not to catch a ride on a Chinese junk,11 a type of ship with always just collecting the specimens and observing a large sail still in use in the ports of China.12 The methods of cultivation that were the challenge though. crew had warned him of the threat of pirates but he He also has to transport these exotic goods. was skeptical, however, after being explained that the In the early-to-mid 1800s, one reason valuable pirates only take hostage of those who have money or plants like tea were not more widespread around someone who might pay a ransom, he spotted them the world between 200 and 300 yards away, “putting her helm was because down.”13 At 20-30 yards and after having been fired they were upon, Fortune coordinated the crew to lie down at rather fragile the timing of the next shots. The crew followed his due to their command and after saving the lives of the entirety short lives of his crew he stood and faced the pirates’ ship and and thus dif- “raked their decks fore and aft, with shot and ball ficult to transport. The method employed by Fortune from my double-barreled gun…Had a thunder-bolt to address this problem was to use Ward’s cases (or fallen among them, they could not have been more Wardian containers). A Ward’s case is type of enclosed surprised. Doubtless, many were wounded, and prob- terrarium that can protect plant life. It is said that Dr. ably some killed.”14 Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward invented the first in 1829 to Today, there is sale of tea from the Great Britain to protect his specimens from pollution, as he described China, perhaps reflecting the long road the tea indus- in his text On the Growth of Plants in Closely Glazed Cases.7 try has taken since these early days.15 With increased However, Fortune needed them to protect his seeds for consumption of coffee worldwide, the number of safe travel aboard ships. cups of tea consumed per person in England is down In 1849 he experimented with these cases to find and the industry’s consumption is shifting back to the best environment for his short-lived tea seeds to its producing regions. Even with this seemly polar be transported. The cases themselves were made of reversal estimates are that the industry stands to grow iron bars and were always transported on the highest by $12.6 billion between 2018 and 2023.16 However, spot on the poop deck.8 The method used to create unlike in the distant past, new methods of tracking the ideal conditions within the Ward’s cases went as and retaining the origin-identity of a product like the follows: “Having procured some mulberry-plants from Geographical Indication (GI) Indicator will probably the district where the best Chinese silk is produced, limit new significant aspects of the industry from I planted them in a Ward’s case in the usual way, and being misappropriated in the way that Fortune so watered them well. In two or three days, when the soil effectively did in the mid-1800s.17 was sufficiently dry, a large quantity of tea-seeds were scattered over its surface, and covered with earth about Joel Wickwire is a former journalist and doctoral half an inch deep. The whole was now sprinkled with student in the Global Security Program of Ameri- water and fastened down with a few crossbars to keep can Public University. His thesis research is on the Ukraine. the earth in place. The case was then screwed down in the usual way and made tight as possible.”9 These cases were then sent to British Colonies through Calcutta, India, which some consider to be the start of the now prominent industry.10 11. Three Years, place 4112. 6. Fortune, p. 80. 12. https://exploration.marinersmuseum.org/watercraft/junk-ship/. 7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardian_case. 13. Three Years, place 4112. 8. Fortune, Three Years’ Wanderings in The Northern Prov- 14. Three Years, place 4205. inces of China, place 3580. See: https://archive.org/details​ 15. https://worldteanews.com/tea-industry-news-and-features/british-tea-​ /threeyearswander00fortuoft/page/n8/mode/2up. The poop deck was sales-booming-in-china. the elevated rear deck on a sailing ship. 16. https://worldteanews.com/market-trends-data-and-insights/market-​ 9. Fortune p. 356 research-reflects-and-predicts-growth. 10. 1852 links Darjeeling (India as British terrirtory) to Fortune’s sec- 17. GI Indicator of product from origin - https:// ond book – https://www.wipo.int/ipadvantage/en/details.jsp?id=2540. www.mondaq.com/india/Intellectual-Property/785150/Case-Study-Tea- Also see - https://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Wardian+case. Board-Of-India-vs-ITC-Ltd.

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